Please, Daddy! Don't Hurt Me No More!!!

Time to rant....

The Red Sox own the Yanks this year. And they don't just beat us either. They like to torture us. They stick the knife in and then they pull it out just enough, til we think we're actually going to live, then they plunge it back into us and twist it until we finally give up and die.

One of the reasons for the Red Sox dominance over the Yanks this year is it seems the Red Sox are able to get whatever they need off this bullpen. We have no one that can shut them down and that even includes the Great Mariano. Damaso Marte going on the DL actually helps, but we still have no one that can be relied on to get big outs when needed (besides the Great Mariano...but then, only against teams other than Boston). Veras, Ramirez, Alby (Not So Sure), Coke, Marte, Melancon, Robertson, etc...all have yet to prove they are worthy of Girardi's trust. Brian Bruney can't come back soon enough.

And could someone tell the Yankee pitchers that the guy batting behind David Ortiz is no longer Manny Ramirez. They seem to be intent on making Jason Bay the next great Yankee killer. It's Jason Friggin Bay!!! Can we get this guy out. Damn!!!

Mark Teixiera. Can you at least get your batting average higher than your weight? With a line-up with Jose Melina & Pena in it...there is no way you should have the lowest batting average on May 5. Stop taking belt high fastballs down the middle and swinging at curveballs in the dirt. I do appreciate the walks you get, but since no one on the Yanks seems to be able to get a hit with RISP, we need RBI's, not just more baserunners.

Now we play Tampa Bay. This is an interested series. Both teams have sputtered out the gate but have each shown flashes of brilliance at times. The Yanks have their big three going...AJ & Pettitte vs Tampa Bay, and then CC on Friday against the O's. (For some reason the Yanks have another series in Baltimore but the O's have yet to come to NY. Weird.) It would be nice to get 3 quality starts from this group in a row. The bullpen will continue to be overworked when Hughes & Joba pitch so it's imperative that the veteran guys start going deep into games. Wang devastated the bullpen, with his 3 train wrecks last month. It's time to start righting the ship.

There is talk that we will see the season debut of Alex Rodriguez by this weekend. He will be a welcome sight. Just dropping him in the middle of the line-up will be soooo good. We really don't have a true clean-up hitter with Arod out. Posada, Swisher & Matsui have done their best in that role. But they are 5, 6 or 7 hitters, not true clean up guys.

And just getting guys like Pena, Berroa and Ransom out of the everyday line-up is a big plus. We pretty much could have batted the pitcher in their places the last month with minimal, if any, drop off. Actually,we probably would have been better off on the days that CC pitched, because he just might be a better hitter than all those guys. We still have to deal with Molina now that Posada is hurt, but 1 automatic out is enough.

Don't get me wrong...I appreciate the contributions Ransom, Berroa & Pena have made to the team. But at this point, they're just not everyday players.